In2Science treat CCC students to STEM talks

Last week, the students at Capital City College (CCC)’s King’s Cross centre were treated to talks about career pathways into STEM, presented by volunteers from In2scienceUK.  

Created in 2010, In2scienceUK aims to provide opportunities, knowledge and confidence for young people from low socioeconomic and under-resourced backgrounds and to improve diversity and inclusion in STEM fields.

Sitting down with early career researchers

Oran Tarjan, Employability and Progression Lead at Capital City College, said: “Today we invited In2scienceUK, who brought along a panel of speakers, which included a mix of young people studying degrees and PhDs within the STEM fields.” 

From early career researchers to PhD students and TikTok stars, students learned about pathways into university and STEM research such as into the fields of genomics, pharmacology, physics and more.

However, not all career paths follow a conventional academic route, and the volunteers from In2scienceUK shared stories about their backgrounds and other routes into careers in STEM. Students also learned about the benefits of social media and networking, and they had the opportunity to ask questions about internships and work experience opportunities.  

The student perspective

Hussain said: “I really enjoyed the programme. One thing that I liked was that there was a broad range of students that were picked, all of them obviously with different backgrounds and the courses that they picked were also very different from one another as well. It’s given insight to how each course was and also the path they took together, they explained it really well.” 

Simona added: “I liked the programme. To be honest, it feels very helpful and I’m planning to ask them some questions one-on-one, because I was a bit shy to ask it like in public. Yeah, but every single talk, it was perfect because I like that they talked through the experience and what they’ve been through, their feelings and worries.”  

Ali commented, “I like the programme, it showed actual students’ experiences, so it gave a refreshing insight of students and their journeys and how they progressed and they aren’t all just traditional students, like some did international study and it was nice getting those different views.” 

Brian said, “I really enjoyed the panel. It was quite an inside look into, you know, the top processes behind students going into STEM. It was a really interesting look and I enjoyed like all the diverse personalities on the board.” 

Oran concluded: “This was a great insight into getting into the STEM industry. It was great to hear about the speakers’ career journeys and why they decided to pick their STEM subjects. We had quite a diverse range of the panel who were able to offer insights, advice and guidance about getting into careers and STEM, but also how to get experiences and network with individuals either online or in person. The speakers gave lots of really great advice to the students, such as how students could think about where they want to get to in the future, but they’re not going to know the answer straight away and should try different things.”  

See online for more information about fascinating careers in science, and what courses students can take in STEM fields at CCC. 

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